Professor Deirdre Kelly set up the hospital’s liver unit in 1989. She has developed the facility into the leading paediatric liver unit in the world

A Birmingham Children’s Hospital professor has been named one of the country’s most inspirational women in healthcare after helping increase the survival rate for children having liver transplants by 50 per cent.

Professor Deirdre Kelly set up the hospital’s liver unit in 1989. She has developed the facility into the leading paediatric liver unit in the world. It is also the busiest liver
and small bowel transplant unit in Europe.

As
director of the service, she has helped raise the survival rate in children having liver transplants from 40 per cent in 1989 to 90 per cent today.

Professor Kelly,
who is an acknowledged national and international leader in the field and also Professor of Paediatric Hepatology at the University of Birmingham, has now earned a place among the top 50 inspirational women,
published by industry magazine, Health Service Journal.

Birmingham Children's Hospital, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham

Recognising her “drive and dynamism”, the judging panel said that Professor Kelly has “inspired generations of paediatricians”.

Professor
Kelly said: “I delighted to be on the inaugural Inspirational Women list and the recognition this brings both personally and to the liver unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.”

The
list contains the names of 50 women within the field of healthcare, both clinical and non-clinical, and celebrates outstanding leaders and generous mentors who stand out for their passion and ability.

A
spokesman for the Health Service Journal said: “The judges were clear that they were looking for people who live the values they espouse – the
authentic leaders.”

Many paediatricians, nurses and other health professionals have been educated
at the hospital’s liver unit, which also conducts cutting-edge research
into outcomes after transplants, the molecular genetics of liver disease and viral hepatitis in children.